Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis this morning launched a consultation document for the National Tourism Policy 2015 to 2020.

He said the document, drawn up following consultation with stakeholders, gave a snapshot of the current situation in the tourism industry and mapped out the way forward. It followed from a previous policy that expires next year.

The document has four sections: Accessibility (such as air connectivity and the importance of working with MIA and Air Malta to improve connectivity), Marketing (revisiting branding, focusing on making better use of city tourism, such as Valletta, and looking at attracting new markets), Improving the Product (such accommodation, catering, infrastructure, human resources) and Gozo (generate more tourism by maximising the island's potential).

It also delves into the film industry, the cruise liner industry, English language teaching and other types of teaching tourism.

The policy was based on a more long-term vision that looked beyond 2020 - to 2030. This vision steered away from "counting the numbers" of arrivals and bed nights - and was based on managing the numbers, offering a quality protect and improving the tourism spread to use off-peak months

The public consultation, that starts today, ends mid-February. It will include two meetings - one in Malta and the other in Gozo. The document and proposals will be available online on tourism.gov.mt.

The final document will be completed in March after which an action plan will be drawn up to implement the policy.

See the consultation document on pdf below.